When She Loved Me
by TheMrsDSalvatore
Summary: A meeting he has been anticipating. Will all goes as he hopes? Or is he already too late?


**This is just a one-shot that was playing around in my head for a while and I needed to get it out.**

 **Hope you all enjoy!**

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 **DISCLAIMER: I own nothing - all the recognisable characters and places belong to their respective owners, I'm merely borrowing them to play with. Any translations and author notes will be at the end of each chapter.**

 **All mistakes are my own - I don't have a beta.**

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He watches her from across the room, her laughter though not loud, rings as clear as day. He was so attuned to that sound, from oh so long ago, he could easily puck it out in a crowd of even millions. She smiles and ducks her head a little as one of her party comments on her looks. As much as she looked so at home, natural in this glamourous setting, confidence in her every line, that small town girl he fell for is still there somewhere inside and her long ages habit of never being able to take a compliment comes to the fore. The group laughs as she dismisses the praise; she is humble as always.

He sighs as he looks back towards the bar, ordering himself another drink that would probably end up being switched again with his neighbour, who doesn't notice his drink seems to never be empty. A tall blonde comes up to her and she turns and smiles not just in welcome but in affection. The other woman is close to her, their very stance not to mention the clear emotions on their faces says it all. She turns back to the group around her and introduces them.

"This is Caroline." Her bell-like tone holds a palpable amount of love and pride. Caroline exchanges greetings with them all the while keeping arms linked with his obsession. They talk about inconsequential things for a while until she reaches over and tucks a stray strand back behind her ear. A friend gasps and quickly grabs said limb.

"And what is this, hmm?"

The question elicits a laugh out of Caroline who nudges her hip at her friend. She looks away as if to look for someone among the crowd before she turns and tries to deflect the question. The group of course becomes even more obsessed than he is with their current centre stage attraction. She sighs with relief with a tall athletically built man with light brown hair and hazel-green eyes comes up and winds an arm around Caroline. She quickly introduces him as Stefan, Caroline's husband. The love she feels for this man is obvious for any who had eyes, so similar to those that can see it on Stefan's face. She is family to him, like blood. He and his wife seem to dote on her and stand protectively and supportively of her. Another sigh escapes his lips as his mind wonders to another couple who had once stood in the place of Caroline and Stefan. His own siblings no less. He quickly scans the crowd and spots said couple a whole room away from him. Their gazes like his locked on her, like his, held a longing, an aching want to bask in the light of her presence. They loved her, to them she was a confidant. A friend. An almost sister.

 _Almost._

Somebody sits next to him, he ignores them. Moments pass as he continues to look at her.

"Gorgeous, isn't she?" A deep baritone rumbles from the presence next to him. He turns and his golden gaze clash with icy blues, the midnight black of the speaker's hair making the blue look even more intense. The blue eyed stranger turns and surveys the crowd before them before nodding his head in her direction. "Don't you think?" Following his gaze and realise he was meaning her. His one and only obsession.

"Yes, quite beautiful." He admits, he couldn't hide the longing nor the adoration in his tone. He was wrapped up in looking at her again and so misses the flash in the stranger's eyes. He watches as she continues to chat and swap stories with the group. Others come and go, exchanging greetings and such but Stefan and Caroline remain steadfast beside her. Stefan steps back for a moment, excusing himself as he made his way over to another bar just to their right. He's getting them drinks. He comes back and offers her a tumbler, bourbon from the look and smell of it. He frowns; he hadn't known of her preference for such a strong liquor. The presence next to him chuckles.

"Bourbon, huh? Didn't pick her for the type. But you know what they say about a woman who can handle hard liquor." The raven haired man comments.

"Hmm." Was all the reply the stranger was going to get from him as they sat side by side admiring the vision that stood before them, holding both of their undivided attention effortlessly.

"That they are the ones you have to watch out for thr most. Land based sirens who will pull you in with their angelic looks and devilish demeanour. The most dangerous kind of women." This has him looking at the man as if he was insane. He smirks. "I only speak the truth. Look at the way she looks; she's goddamn stunning. She draws them like moths to a flame and despite the little moths are feeling the fear, too scared to come too close, too afraid to get burnt, they still do."

Something in his eyes shift and he straightens up, his gaze focused ahead. He turns to see what has captivated the man's attention and his eyes slightly widen at the sight of the object of their conversation making her way over to them. He's right, she's stunning, no, _perfect_. The sway of her hips as she walks along sashays her dress against her thighs, leaving a wake of men shifting to ease a relief in their lower regions. A playful and sexy smirk quirks about her lips as she stops in front of them, looking at first one and then the other. She licks her lips causing both of them to shift before she smiles at him. He smiles back. His family's internal voices which he had muted, so concentrated he was on her were now reverberating in his head. He frowns at the pity that lay behind their words. Why? What are they feeling so sorry for? Why are they giving him pitying looks? His angel was right in front of him. He couldn't be any happier.

"Edward, what a surprise to see you. How naughty of Angela not to mention she had invited you. Never mind, I see that you've met Damon." She turns her eyes to the blue eyed man next to him. Edward turns his head, following her gaze. Damon smiles at him before looking back at the angel standing before them.

"Oh yes, we were just talking about you, Isabella." Damon answers for him. She tilts her head to the side, curious. "Talking about how stunning you look, _cara_." She throws her head back and laughs, ringing peals of sensuality around the room.

"He's right, you look beautiful, Bella." Edward murmurs. She stops her laugh and looks at him. For a moment he's transported back in the time, to a time when there was no one in the world but him and her. To a time when her eyes lifted up to his, full of love and adoration. A time when she was his and no one else's. But reality is a harsh mistress and it quickly draws him back to the present. She blushes as Damon chuckles.

"See, I was right, as I always am. You, Isabella are the most stunning creature in this room, no, the very planet." Damon chimes as he leans back against the bar, one foot bent resting on the rail below. She looks at him and lifts a single perfect brow, Damon merely shakes his head before straightening up and coming to stand next to her.

"And you, sir are the original Cassanova. Smooth words and silver tongue, I bet you say that to all the ladies!" She retorts. They laugh at her sass

"Now, now, Isabella, you know very well that my 'eternal stud' days are a thing of the very distant pass now. I'm a happily domesticated man now, married and everything!"

He couldn't help voicing his thoughts as their banter strikes a chord.

"You two know each other?" Edward asks. She smiles before looking shyly up at Damon who merely smiled back before wrapping a possessive arm around her waist and tucking her into his tall frame. Edward's eyes follow his movement, his mind for once too slow to process what his heart already knows.

Damon's next sentence damns him to the pits of hell. He was lost, he had lost and now he knew that the eternity of loneliness he had thought was his before she entered into his life and breathed hope into his non-living self was really what life had in store for him. As each word fell into his ears, imprinting into his perfect recall there to echo until the end of time, his life with her flashes before his eyes.

 _The first meet._ His determination to stay away.

 _The first touch._ Meeting his family.

 _His confession of his love._ Telling her about his obsession. His dangerous addiction.

 _The first kiss._ Him warning her away.

Their days spent with her wrapped comfortably and trustingly within his arms, safe and very much loved.

The day he told her the blackest of lies and left her there in the dark, for her own safety, he had repeated like a mantra to stay strong.

The day he returned, only to find her gone, every trace of her non-existent. Just like his final words to her. _It will be as if I never existed._

The following years he spent searching for her, hoping against hope all coming to a frustrating end every time he failed.

Finally his joy at receiving Angela's invitation to her engagement party, which was where they all were now, learning that she would also be attending. His nervous giddiness at getting ready. His first glimpse of her in the crowd.

All of it flashed and culminated to this point. To the tableau before him. An image of what was once a possible future for him, with her. One his own sibling had seen, had repeatedly, tirelessly tried to show him, to which in his own stubborn mind denied as he found himself, convinced himself to be too dangerous to be around her. To the time when she looked at him as she now looked at Damon; with a love so overwhelming it lit up the room brighter than the chandeliers. Edward remembered once how that felt, to be the one who bore the proud look that now graced Damon's countenance – there was a time in his long life that _he_ was _the one_ – when _she_ loved _him._

"Sorry for being rude and the late introductions. I'm Damon. Damon Salvatore, Isabella's husband."

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 **A/N: So what did you guys think? I'm considering adding to it, there's certainly room for it but only after I wrap up my other story first - White Serpent and also if any have any interest in seeing where it could go.**


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